How the World’s Richest Soccer League Is Cashing in on China’s Love for the ‘Beautiful Game’

China has a big appetite for all things soccer. It even wants to become a “soccer superpower” by 2050.

The country is still nowhere near the top of FIFA’s global rankings, but that hasn’t stopped Chinese investors from going on a major shopping spree for anything soccer-related in the past few years. Their latest target? Broadcasting rights of the world’s richest league, reportedly.

Citing anonymous sources, Bloomberg reports that the English Premier League (EPL) has inked a three-year broadcasting deal worth over $650 million with Chinese digital broadcaster PPTV, beginning from the 2019/2020 season. PPTV is part of the Suning group, the same Chinese retail conglomerate that had acquired a majority stake in the Italian soccer club Inter Milan earlier this year.

The deal — likely to be the EPL’s most expensive overseas broadcasting agreement ever, according to Bloomberg — marks a major leap by Chinese companies in acquiring overseas sports broadcasting rights. The EPL’s current TV deal in China cost just one-twelfth of what PPTV is now paying, says Bloomberg. (The Hong Kong division of another Chinese online video service provider, LeEco, sealed the most recent EPL broadcasting contract covering the semi-autonomous territory by paying an already-staggering price of $400 million back in 2015, according to The Hollywood Reporter.)

Even before this jaw-dropping deal, Chinese investors had already shown considerable interest in more than the rights to air English soccer matches in the country.

In the summer of 2016 alone, two English soccer teams — Aston Villa and the West Bromwich Albion — were bought outright by relatively obscure Chinese companies. A third, the erstwhile powerhouse Liverpool FC, had been at the center of a bidding war between different Chinese investors for a minority stake — as Reuters reported in August — even as its U.S. owners had suggested that the club was not for sale. Other clubs like the Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City had also received some form of Chinese funding.

Chinese money doesn’t just have its eyes on the English league, as the Inter Milan acquisition had shown. AC Milan, the other major Milan-based soccer club, was reportedly bought from former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi’s company — albeit with problematic bank papers. And according toReuters, Dalian Wanda, the firm better known for its involvement in Hollywood, now holds a 20% stakes in the Spanish club Ateletico Madrid, and has become a major sponsor of FIFA, the governing body of world soccer.

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However, even as China’s footprint in world soccer deepens, the money-first, investors-first approach to soccer in the world’s second-largest economy has reportedly left some fans of the “beautiful game” feeling disgruntled.

“I look at this new contract [as something] for life,” the galactico said in a video release, in which he also described the deal as “the best contract that I have in my whole career.”

It marked the second major signing in less than a week for Ronaldo after he extended his Real Madrid contract through 2021 on Sunday.

Ronaldo’s “lifetime deal” puts him in an exclusive trio with NBA luminaries LeBron James, who signed in December last year, and Michael Jordan. Jordan has received over $473 million from Nike since 1993, despite retiring in 2003.

“I have great relationship with this brand,” said Ronaldo. “This is my brand. You know, Nike, they are smart, and they know to pick the best ones. So I’m happy because I’m one of them.”

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The financial terms of Nike’s arrangement with the Portuguese footballer were not disclosed, but he has been sponsored by Nike since 2003, CNNMoneyreports.

“Many people tell me, ‘I cannot see you with another brand. You are Nike, man.'”

Most people would not forge bank statements when applying for a mortgage. Imagine doing that when buying a professional sports team.

The Chinese investor group trying to buy AC Milan may have done just that during the $825 million acquisition process of one of the world’s most famous soccer team, according to the Bank of Jiangsu in a statement to Bloomberg on Wednesday.

The group, which is called Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing, used the bank’s stationary and name during initial negotiations with the soccer club’s current owner, former Italian prime minister Silvo Burlusconi. The Bank of Jiangsu says it never issued such a document.

According to people familiar with the matter, those documents appeared to detail transactions of one of the investor’s corporate accounts, Bloomberg reported. One of the supposed bank reports lists an ending balance of around $128 million on April 25. The document is even stamped with a red seal using the Bank of Jiangsu’s name. Such a seal, which is the equivalent of a signature in China, would’ve been specially carved.

The purported bank statement was given to Fininvest, a firm founded by Burlusconi, as part of package of paperwork. Such papers are often requested by the seller to confirm the buyer’s source of funding.

That might have been a problem for the Chinese investors, as people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the consortium did not have their funding ready at the initial stages of the deal.

A spokesperson for Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management, which includes Haixia Capital and businessman Li Yonghong, said it “does not confirm it has ever sent such a document” in a statement to the news organization. Fininvest issued a similar statement Tuesday, saying it “does not confirm having received the specific documentation under discussion.”

The acquisition deal between AC Milan and the Chinese investors, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2016, is part of a surge of outbound Chinese mergers and acquisitions activity in 2016, reaching $135.3 billion by mid-year.

Fortune has reached out to Fininvest and Haixia Capital, and will update this story when they respond.

Switzerland Is Investigating Franz Beckenbauer for Fraud and Money-Laundering

The Swiss have done what the Germans couldn’t bring themselves to do. They’ve opened a criminal investigation into soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer over suspicions that he committed fraud and laundered money in helping Germany win the rights to host FIFA’s 2006 World Cup.

The German website Der Spiegel said federal attorneys in Switzerland are looking into a chain of suspect payments of around 10 million Swiss francs between 2002 and 2005 to a Swiss law firm from an account run jointly by Beckenbauer and his then business partner Robert Schwan.

The payments were allegedly part of a chain that allowed the German Soccer Federation, or DFB, to run a slush fund to buy the votes of key FIFA committee members. As it didn’t have the necessary money itself, it borrowed it from former Adidas CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus (since deceased). According to German media disclosures in November last year, Beckenbauer—a member of the DFB’s bid committee—had personally guaranteed Louis-Dreyfus would be repaid.

Once the DFB had won the hosting rights—and guaranteed itself a multi-million dollar windfall from FIFA and its sponsors—it reimbursed Louis-Dreyfus through accounts linked to FIFA, adding another thread to the rich tapestry of corruption exposed 15 months ago by U.S. authorities.

As state prosecutors in Germany opened a probe into money-laundering by the DFB in November 2015, its President Wolfgang Niersbach resigned, although he denies any wrongdoing. Of the four-man bid committee, Beckenbauer alone escaped the odium of a criminal investigation into him personally.

Beckenbauer and Schwan were both unreachable for comment Thursday. The man they called Der Kaiser has however denied ever buying votes and denied any wrongdoing. He told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung last year that he “always signed blindly when they needed my signature”—the same defense that today’s soccer legend Lionel Messi used unsuccessfully in his trial for tax evasion in Spain earlier this year. Messi was found guilty but avoided jail time.

Hope Solo Takes Indefinite ‘Personal Leave’ from Seattle Reign

Solo’s team, the Seattle Reign FC of the National Women’s Soccer League, announced that the goalie had been “granted a personal leave” before the team faced off against the Portland Thorns on Saturday night.

“Hope Solo has been granted personal leave and will be unavailable for today’s match,” the Reign announced on Twitter. “Andi Tostanoski has been signed as a GK replacement.”

No return date for the goalkeeper was disclosed.

Hope Solo has been granted personal leave and will be unavailable for today's match. Andi Tostanoski has been signed as a GK replacement.

The announcement comes days after Solo was suspended for six months from the U.S. Soccer organization for conduct “counter to the organization’s principles.”

U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati said the comments Solo made after Sweden beat the U.S. at the Rio Olympics were “unacceptable and do not meet the standard of conduct we require from our National Team players.”

Liverpool Soccer Team Not for Sale Despite Chinese Interest

The American owners of Liverpool, one of the most famous teams in English soccer, are not planning to sell, a senior source at the club said on Sunday, after reports that a Chinese-backed consortium wanted to buy a sizeable stake.

There were no active discussions involving Fenway Sports Group, the Boston-based owners, and the English Premier League club had received no bid, added the source who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject.

The source restated the club’s position that its owners would listen to any expressions of interest from potential investors in Liverpool but move forward only with the right partner.

Chinese companies are increasingly interested in buying up stakes in European soccer clubs not only as good investments but also a way to help President Xi Jinping’s bid to raise the profile of the sport in China.

Chinese groups announced deals this month to buy Italy’s AC Milan, English Premier League West Bromwich Albion and second-tier French side Auxerre.

Liverpool have won the English league title 18 times but the last of those triumphs was in 1990 before the Premier League was set up. Clubs such as Chelsea and Manchester City, bankrolled by wealthy owners from Russia and the Gulf, have overtaken them in recent years.

The Financial Times reported that Liverpool’s owners had hired an investment bank to advise on the possible sale of a sizeable stake to a partnership between Everbright, a Chinese state-owned financial conglomerate, and PCP Capital Partners, run by financier Amanda Staveley.

Earlier this week, chairman Tom Werner denied Liverpool were up for sale while chief executive Ian Ayre said the club were not engaged in investment discussions with anyone. The source said that did not mean there was no interest in the club.

Liverpool, whose backers also own the Boston Red Sox baseball team, are just completing redevelopment work to increase the capacity of their famous Anfield stadium to 54,000.

A spokesman for the British government, which under new Prime Minister Theresa May has said it will review a Chinese-backed nuclear energy project, declined to comment on the report, saying it was a matter for Liverpool’s owners.

Other recent recipients of Chinese backing include English clubs Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Inter Milan while Manchester City and Atletico Madrid have significant minority investments from the country.

The sale of AC Milan was the most high-profile of the recent spate of Chinese investments but any deal for Liverpool, the world’s ninth richest club by revenue according to Deloitte, is almost certain to eclipse that.

Adidas Can’t Put a Foot Wrong Right Now

German sporting goods group Adidas AG addyy raised its 2016 guidance for a fourth time this year after reporting a 21 percent jump in second-quarter sales, among other helped by the European soccer championships in France.

Shares rose around 4 percent in early trade, making them the biggest gainers on Germany’s blue-chip DAX index.

The group said on Thursday it now expected its 2016 currency-adjusted sales to grow at a rate in the high teens, compared with previous guidance for a 15 percent increase.

It now also sees net profit from continuing operations rising at a rate of between 35 and 39 percent, up from a previous forecast for 25 percent growth.

In the second quarter, Adidas saw strong sales of soccer gear, running shoes and lifestyle products in all regions.

Last month, Adidas said that it expected sales of soccer boots, shirts and balls to rise 14 percent to a new record of 2.5 billion euros ($2.77 billion) in 2016, helped by reclaiming leadership of top European markets for soccer footwear from arch rival Nike Inc nke.

Adidas had long been the world’s top soccer brand, but it was overtaken in the market for boots in 2014, prompting Adidas to launch popular new ranges and to focus its marketing spending on more top teams and players.

But Adidas also benefited from a positive financial impact of the termination of a contract with London-based soccer club Chelsea, which helped double its second-quarter profit to 291 million euros.

Adidas announced in May an early end to its shirt sponsorship deal with the English soccer club as part of a shift to partner with fewer clubs to reduce the portion of its marketing budget for sports deals, as it increases spending on pushing the brand directly on social media, in stores and at grassroots sporting events.

By contrast, rival Nike’s second-quarter revenue growth and its forecast for future orders missed analysts’ estimates, underscoring the sportswear maker’s struggle to fend off competition from Adidas and others, especially in its home turf of North America.

In China’s Quest to Conquer World Soccer, Fans Are Feeling Left Behind

Big money signings and investments in storied European clubs, and the backing of a president who is an avid soccer fan: things should be looking up for millions of Chinese supporting the “beautiful game.”

Not so, say some long-time football enthusiasts like Bian Minming, who fear the game is being taken away from them.

Chinese soccer’s new-found cash also means a deluge of heavy-handed corporate sponsorships, and Bian and others say that hampers Beijing’s aim of nurturing a grassroots base for the sport and homegrown talent.

All footballing nations have struggled to balance the interests of commercial sponsors with those of hardcore fans, but in China, encouraged by President Xi Jinping to become a soccer superpower, investors hold all the cards.

All 16 clubs in China’s top league have been forced to incorporate the names of new owners or sponsors in their team names — constant changes that irritate fans. Others clubs been forced to move home, sometimes more than once.

“The football association needs to learn,” said Bian, who protested moves to rebrand Shanghai Shenhua, the club he follows. “The league shouldn’t allow clubs to keep changing names, because only then will they be able to attract more fans.”

The Chinese football association did not respond to a request for comment.

China is currently hosting some of Europe’s biggest clubs, who flock to China to tap a millions-strong pool of fans and some deep-pocketed investors.

Manchester United had been due to take on Manchester City, now part-Chinese owned, in a pre-season match later on Monday at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium — their first derby outside England — though the game has been canceled due to weather concerns and the state of the pitch.

The build-up to that match, in the middle of a busy Chinese league season, had overshadowed even last week’s clash between Shanghai Shenhua and city rivals Shanghai SIPG.

Buying foreign talent may increase interest — China spent more in the winter transfer window than the entire English Premier League — but as with the Gulf States, sports industry veterans warn it will do little to boost the homegrown talent that China needs if it is to achieve Xi’s ambition of one day winning the World Cup.

China currently ranks 81st in the world, behind St Kitts and Nevis, whose population of 55,000 would fit into Shanghai SIPG’s stadium.

“China’s top-down approach to everything does not fit football at all,” said Cameron Wilson, who runs Wild East Football, a news website devoted to Chinese soccer.

“You need a solid and long-standing football culture to generate a supply of people who have grown up watching, playing and most importantly, loving football.”

HUNDRED-YEAR CLUBS

Last year, China drew up a far-reaching reform plan aimed at reinvigorating the domestic game, which it said was “lagging in all respects.”

High on its agenda was creating “hundred-year clubs” rooted in local communities and nurturing a genuine grass-roots sporting culture. To achieve this, it said it would curtail the power of rich investors to relocate or rebrand teams on a whim.

Even as it called for a bottom-up sporting culture, China also demanded the establishment of “competitive brands” and set a target of swelling the sports industry to 3 trillion yuan ($450 billion) — six times the estimated value of the existing global sports market — by 2020.

Of course, without sponsorship, China’s clubs would have no chance of importing international stars such as former Arsenal and Roma striker Gervinho or Senegal’s Demba Ba. Such banner signings have fueled lucrative TV deals — but not yet homegrown success.

Demba Ba #9 of Shanghai Greenland Shenhua celebrates after scoring a goal at Hongkou Football Stadium on July 15, 2015 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

“There are differences in culture, in the national personality and tradition,” said Waley Ho, founder of Reds in Shanghai, a Manchester United supporters group. “It will still need time.”

Fans say the removal of sponsors’ names from club crests would go a long way.

Shanghai SIPG, formed in 2005 and explicitly modeled on Manchester United — founded in 1878 — has already undergone two relocations and two name changes. It is now named after the Shanghai International Port Group, a state backer with the resources to pay a Chinese record of more than 50 million euros ($55.15 million) to sign Brazilian international Hulk from Zenit St Petersburg.

Bian and other Shanghai Shenhua fans protested in 2014 after their new owners, the Greenland Group, announced plans to change the club’s name and put the group’s logo on the club crest. The club did not respond to requests for comment.

Despite a compromise, which saw the club rebranded as Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, fans speaking after last Sunday’s derby against Shanghai SIPG said they still hope the owners’ name can be removed — even if they can see an upside.

Lionel Messi Walks Free Despite Tax Fraud Conviction

This article is published in partnership with Time.com. The original version can be found here.

By Sarah Begley @SCBegley

Soccer superstar Lionel Messi and his father have each been handed 21-month jail sentences for tax fraud by a Spanish court, but they’re unlikely to spend any time behind bars.

Messi and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, were both found guilty of defrauding Spain of 4.1 million euros ($4.5 million) between 2007 and 2009, BBC News reports. In addition to prison sentences for each, they have been fined millions of euros.

But because Spanish regulations allow prison terms of less than two years to be suspended, neither man is likely to serve time, the Associated Press reports.

Messi has said he “knew nothing” about how his finances were being handled, and that he signed documents his father and advisors gave him without reading them. His father has also denied willful wrongdoing, ESPN reports.

Ignorance isn’t usually accepted as a defense by courts in Spain or anywhere else, a fact that has prompted allegations of undue lenience towards the star.

Legendary Italian Soccer Club Milan Is Now Chinese-Owned

This article is published in partnership with Time.com. The original version can be found here.

By Charlie Campbell @charliecamp6ell

Storied Italian soccer club AC Milan has been sold to a Chinese consortium, says the club’s owner, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Berlusconi, who served four terms as Prime Minister but was later convicted of tax fraud and bribery, told an Italian newspaper Tuesday that the deal would bring in around $830 million after the club’s debt had been settled, reports the BBC.

“Milan has now embarked on this path towards China,” Berlusconi said in a video posted on the website of La Gazzetta dello Sport, according to a translation provided by Bloomberg. “It’s an important decision to give AC Milan to someone able to make it be a protagonist in Italy, Europe and globally.”

However, the 79-year-old did not disclose the identity of the buyers, leading to speculation the deal for the Rossoneri — the world’s third most successful club with 14 European and four world trophies — had still to be finalized. Robin Li, head of Chinese search engine Baidu bidu, and Jack Ma, founder of online marketplace Alibaba Group baba, are thought the most likely candidates.

The sale would represent the latest high-profile acquisition by Chinese investors seeking to make waves in the so-called beautiful game. Last month, AC Milan’s city rival Internazionale was sold to Chinese electronics retail giant Suning, while British club Aston Villa was bought by Chinese technology businessman Tony Xia. Construction giant Wanda Group also owns 20% of Spain’s Atlético Madrid.

The club dominated European soccer in early 1990s with a team built around Italian and Dutch superstars including Paolo Maldini and Marco van Basten. But it has only won the Italian championship once in the last 12 years. It has suffered a string of financial net losses and needed regular capital injections, and last year failed to qualify even for either of the two European club tournaments, badly denting its revenue outlook.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is a self-professed soccer fan and in 2014 outlined a 50-point plan to revitalize the nation’s prowess at soccer. Aside from acquisitions abroad, some of the world’s top soccer stars have begun playing for Chinese teams.